With class size increases coming as a result of cuts in state funding, the local educational foundation has launched a campaign to raise up to $2 million. The Los Alamitos Unified School District Educational Foundation mailed letters to all district parents last week requesting contributions of $225.00 per student. (Editor's note: this amount was incorrectly stated as $245.00 in a previous article).
The Los Alamitos Unified School District, which provides K-12 public education to the Orange County, California cities of Los Alamitos, Seal beach, the unincorporated community of Rossmoor, and some adjacent areas, has about 9,200 students. Thus, if each student provided the requested contribution, the total would exceed $2 million.
Who is the Los Alamitos Unified School District Educational Foundation?
The letter that was sent to parents last week was on the foundation's letterhead, but it was not signed by an official representative of either the district or the foundation, the solicitation was not an official act of the district, and the letter was not approved by the Board of Education. The letter was signed "Fellow Parents ". According to Diana Hill, Co-President of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Educational Foundation, the lack of an official signature was "an oversight because it was e mailed between committee members". Hill stressed that the foundation is the legal entity responsible for all aspects of the campaign. The foundation is a quasi independent non-governmental organization which provides fundraising for the school district. Legally, the foundation is a separate entity from the district, but they are very closely connected and the foundation does not appear to perform any functions other than fundraising for the district. The executive assistant to the district's Superintendent, Tina Dingillo, is a foundation board member and its secretary. The foundation's website lists District Superintendent, Dr. Gregory Franklin, Jim Elsasser, and Patricia Meyer, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, as "District Advisors". The foundation uses the district's phone number and its address is a PO Box.
In addition to Diana Hill, her husband, Randy Hill, is a board member and a Vice President. The other Co-President is Julie Kadletz. Tom Stretz is also a Vice President, and Jennifer Hirsch is the Treasurer.
Diana Hill, who also serves as chairperson of the Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee for the Measure K bonds approved by the voters last fall, indicated this is the foundation's first fundraising campaign since they raised about $70,000 two years ago in a district wide effort to fund technology items. She said "Every Penney of it was divided up between all the different school sites. It was divided based on need because each site had a little bit different need." In reference to the current class size campaign, She said "If we got even close to half, I think that we would be completely and utterly ecstatic."
Hill said 100% of the funds raised by this campaign will go directly to the district. "Everybody on the board of the foundation is strictly volunteer. There is not one of us on the board that has received a penny for the hundreds of hours that we've put into make this community and to make this school district a better place." She added "It's a difficult time and we believe so strongly in our school district and wanting to try and keep the quality that we have as much as possible, we go to these efforts."
According to Hill, the foundation is able to pass through 100% of the money donated because all of its costs are either donated by volunteers, paid by the district (such as phones), or covered by a small initial operating fund balance. The costs of conducting the class size campaign, such as postage, were covered by the foundation's operating funds which came from previous unrestricted contributions. Thus, if parents write a check for the requested $225.00, that is the amount which will go towards bringing back some of the teachers who were terminated.
The district terminated about 46 teachers as a result of budget reductions. This translates directly into higher class sizes. In kindergarten, the class size will go from 20 to at least 24 and at the high school, the ninth grade math and English classes will increase from 21 students to 32. If all of the parents contribute the requested $225.00 per student, that would provide funds for about 30 teachers to return.
In a follow up message to parents, Franklin wrote "If the donation amounts are not sufficient to restore class sizes in all grades, the Educational Foundation will work with District administration to allocate the donated funds to the grade levels with the highest class sizes." Thus, if your students attend Weaver Elementary, for example, and every parent with students at that school makes the $225.00 contribution, it does not necessarily mean that all the terminated teachers from your school will be rehired. Hill said that the foundation is not tracking the school to which a contribution is related and will turn over the total to the district for their allocation to the specific school sites.
Another successful program of the foundation was this year's summer school program at the high school. Since there was no funding for the discretionary classes previously offered, the foundation under took to provide the classes on a fee for service basis. This was a significant step for the foundation because it involved some degree of risk. As a public school, the district cannot charge for classes, thus, a separate legal entity was needed. The foundation contracted with the district to make it happen. The foundation committed to pay the district the costs of providing the classes without a known commitment from the students. Both the district and the foundation had an expectation of attendance based on prior years, but if the students did not show up, check in hand, the foundation would be on the hook to the district. Hill indicated that they had the expected number of students and the program netted a small surplus which will be used to enhanced the program next summer.
Click here to go to the foundation's website.
